XBOX as the core for an arcade cabinet?

[amheck]

I've always wanted to build an arcade style gaming system, but I'm not sure I want to mess with all of the wiring and MAME stuff at this time.

Would it be feasible to put an xbox system in an arcade style cabinet and use an LCD monitor and one of the X-Arcade joystick controls?

an you legally mod an xbox to put all of the games on the HDD if you own them? There's several Namco and Capcom collections that I think would be just fine for my needs.

Any other advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[purbeast0]

personally i'd just buy an old cabinet somewhere and put a mame PC in there.

they make harness that will connect your pc directly to the jamma harness.

http://www.ultimarc.com/jpac.html

when i eventually get a house i plan on moving my KI2 cabinet out of my moms basement and converting it to a mame cabinet.

 

[BoberFett]

Emulation on the Xbox is hit or miss. While MAME is constantly being upgraded, the Xbox is for all intents and purposes a dead system so the emulators are basically stuck where the person porting them left them years ago.

PC MAME is a better option if you want a quality arcade system.

 

[amheck]

Ms. Pac Man, Galaga and some of the others would be my primary concern. I was just thinking the XBOX might be an easy solution since they have the games on a disc. I'm just hesitant about getting into MAME and wiring up all of the joysticks, and buttons, etc. I'm not sure I have the time nor the energy for that. But then again, I don't want to spend all of the money for an XBOX system and realize I went the wrong way, either.

I was hoping for something more plug and play, without buying one of the $2000 pre-configured arcade games.

 

[BD2003]

I've always wanted to build an arcade style gaming system, but I'm not sure I want to mess with all of the wiring and MAME stuff at this time.

Would it be feasible to put an xbox system in an arcade style cabinet and use an LCD monitor and one of the X-Arcade joystick controls?

an you legally mod an xbox to put all of the games on the HDD if you own them? There's several Namco and Capcom collections that I think would be just fine for my needs.

Any other advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

To my knowledge, modding and putting games on your xbox hard drive is going to be illegal, no matter what.

But if you actually bought the games, you certainly arent doing anything unethical, which is all you should really care about. And lets face it, there's not the slightest chance in hell you'll ever face any legal repercussions, so I say go for it.

 

[Pia]

Old arcade stuff is prone to looking terrible on a LCD. If you have an actual cabinet, seriously consider using a CRT in it. But if you use a LCD, definitely use a full-fledged PC because that gives you access to the best and newest emulators, which in turn are the easiest to configure to enhance the picture (ensure that scaling is done by integer multipliers, add appropriate scanlines).

 

[RaiderJ]

Couldn't beat an Xbox for cost, although PC's are cheap enough that if you were starting from scratch it would be the better option.

 

[smackababy]

Honestly, you'd be a lot better off doing it right with a PC and MAME, but it could be done with an Xbox. I don't believe modding an Xbox is illegal unless you circumvent copyright protection. Sadly, that will end up costing you more, but the trade off will be a much better experience.